Memphis bluesman Robert 'Wolfman' Belfour dead at 74

A staple of the Memphis and Mississippi blues worlds, Robert “Wolfman” Belfour has died at age 74. His sister-in-law and nephew found him at his home on Wednesday morning, and his passing was confirmed by executives of the Memphis Blues Society.

Born a few miles south of Holly Springs, Mississippi, Mr. Belfour came up in the hothouse atmosphere of the Hill Country blues, where his neighbors and friends included giants of the genre such as Otha Turner, Syd Hemphill, R.L. Burnside, and Junior Kimbrough.

“He was the last guy who was playing that style who could really pull it off,” said Bruce Watson of Mississippi’s Fat Possum label, who put out a pair of LPs by Mr. Belfour in the 2000s. “He was totally connected to it.”

“He was the deepest bluesmen I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of the old players,” said Roger Stolle, owner of Clarksdale’s Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, who booked Mr. Belfour for numerous concerts and events. “He would get so lost in the music, he would take the audience with him.”

Raised in a plank shack, it was his father, Grant Belfour — who died when Mr. Belfour was just 13 — who taught him to play guitar, and he was further influenced by the records of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin’ Hopkins during his teenage years.

The need to support his family after the death of his father and his own eventual marriage meant that Mr. Belfour put his musical ambitions aside for much of his life. He and his wife eventually moved to Memphis in the early 1960s, where he worked construction for the next 35 years. Starting in the 1980s he would perform on Beale Street, but it wasn’t until after the early-‘90s that his career really began to bloom.

In 1994, eight of his songs were featured on musicologist Dr. David Evans’ compilation album The Spirit Lives On: Deep South Country Blues and Spirituals in the 1990s. After gaining the attention of Fat Possum, Mr. Belfour released a pair of much-lauded albums — 2000’s What’s Wrong with You and 2003’s Pushin’ My Luck — for the label.

For much of the past two decades, Mr. Belfour had been a fixture on the Southern blues festival circuit, and a regular at Memphis and Clarksdale nightclubs, where he was hailed for his dapper dress and dedication to the mesmerizing Hill Country style of his forebears. “He would play these almost three-hour sets, and people would be rapt, leaning forward to watch, to get closer to the sound,” said Cat Head’s Stolle. “His blues wasn’t for everyone; he played that really deep country groove. But, to my mind, he was the last of the truly significant culturally connected Hill Country bluesmen. He was dedicated to it his whole life.”

Mr. Belfour, whose wife died several years ago, was uninsured. The Memphis Blues Society is trying to raise money to help the family with funeral costs. Those wishing to donate can do so at memphisbluessociety.com.